mini banana's?

23isgood

Well im going to start ordering parts for my Luneta. I dont have any banana systems at all, so I was wondering where is a good place to order some mini banana plugs and jacks? How about the cables for these? What would be the required gauge? I cant wait, for my Luneta. It will be a while before I have something up and running, but im excited.

thanks
pete

fluxmonkey · Joined: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 708 Location: cleve

Don Lancaster had mini-banana stuff in his online store forever... check http://stores.ebay.com/Synergetics-Abeja

b

23isgood · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:24 pm Post subject:

Not a bad link, but he doesn't have mini banana's. After doing some searching, I really could not find these. It seems that I may just have to go with the standard banana style. I really want to build my Lunetta into a box that is as small as possible, thats why I want the mini banana's. Here are a few links I found for standard banana's,

http://shop.vetcosurplus.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=1032

http://www.futurlec.com/Banana-BananaPlugs.shtml

http://www.testpath.com/Categories/Banana-Plug-Patch-Cords-PVC-Stacking-1835.htm

The Pomona cables are nice but expensive.

pete

mosc · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 4:35 pm Post subject:

It's nice to have a few of those nice Pomona cables, but most of the cables can be non-stackable home-made cheapies.

loss1234 · Posted: Sun Feb 17, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject:

shoot i wish i could find some mini bananas

i found the mini bannana jacks BUT not plugs at electronic goldmine

bugbrand · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:42 am Post subject:

It *may* be possible to order from Rapid now (they've changed their minimum order for outside UK) - their prices are generally pretty darn good and they offer them in a nice selection of colours (futurlec only do red and black)

Sockets
Plugs
And cheaper non-RoHS plugs

loss1234 · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:56 am Post subject:

now i am pissed...those look awesome but i cant find them ANYWHERE else...and futurlec only seems to have the big banana plugs not the 2mm.

boo

fluxmonkey · Joined: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 708 Location: cleve

if you're having trouble sourcing, you might want to re-think your choice. hard to find, non-standard... i doubt the space savings would offset these downsides.

b

loss1234 · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:29 am Post subject:

yeah good point

anybody know where to get cheap pre-made banana cables? i have had real trouble with the plugs from radios shack (the kind where you solder the wire to the little hole toward the tip....maybe i am using the wrong type of wire ( I USED 24 AWG STRANDED)

any tips on making or sourcing the banana cables?

thanks

RF · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 8:51 am Post subject:

Some sort of Test lead wire would be my first choice - but it's probably overkill....*

Here's the first thing that came up on a Google search - I'm sure you can find it for less $$, and probably in a smaller gauge.

http://www.bulkwire.com/product.asp?ProdID=21718&CtgID=6578

bruce

* (I have overkill tendancies. (Witness my 1/4 inch jacks and 1/8 aluminum panels (It's a deeply ingrained personality issue. )))
That - and introspective criticism. Rolling Eyes

toppobrillo · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:46 pm Post subject:

here they are, they're called "tip plugs/ jacks" at mouser, for about the same price as banana types

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/633/1097.pdf

josh

RF · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 3:11 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the pointer Josh!

Uncle Krunkus · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 5:36 pm Post subject:

I can get black and red 2mm banana sockets and plugs from Dick Smith, but I'm only gonna use the sockets. For plugs, I'm just gonna solder a couple of 2mm nails to a variety of wire sizes/colours, and cover the joint with a bit of heatshrink. This will afford just as much (probably more) strain relief as the shitty little plugs would. (I'd have to re-inforce them with heatshrink anyway) And it will save some money as well.
Some extra colours in the way of sockets would be nice, but black-in and red-out will do fine for now.

frijitz · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:48 pm Post subject:

toppobrillo · Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 11:52 pm Post subject:

they're not? i know the plugs aren't exactly 'bananas', more like pins.. i guess i have never seen these 2mm bananas. do they make stackable plugs?

edit: here are some minis on the previous page, see H

http://www.mouser.com/catalog/633/1096.pdf

hmm those tip plugs/jacks look really nice though.

josh

fluxmonkey · Joined: Jun 24, 2005 Posts: 708 Location: cleve

another option would be the ciat lonbard/peter blasser method of brass pegs and alligator clips:

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

Posted Image, might have been reduced in size. Click Image to view fullscreen.

seriously

23isgood · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:52 am Post subject:

Great searching guys! The Mouser parts look nice but way too expensive. There is always a catch. I really like those really tiny ones.

danielwarner · Joined: Dec 18, 2006 Posts: 65 Location: Sacramento

You could use 2.5mm (3/32") jacks and plugs, that might not be cost effective though, haven't looked into sourcing them

RF · Posted: Tue Feb 19, 2008 6:26 pm Post subject:

goldenechos · Posted: Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:03 am Post subject:

If you are going to go for the mini bananas, I would advise getting the sockets and plugs from the same manufacturer.

I purchased a lot of several hundred EF Johnson mini bananas from ebay.
I then sourced some plugs from Ponoma, also sold as mini banana. these would not fit those sockets. It took me 3 tries to finds a plug that worked.

williamsharkey · Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 61 Location: usa

Has anyone ever made specialty cables with circuit components inside of the cable?

For example: A cable with a diode in it?

Or maybe you are ideologically oppose to this - "a cable should do nothing, only modules affect sound"

williamsharkey · Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 61 Location: usa

What about small Neodymium Disc Magnets, has anyone made a cable system with these?

If it worked, it would be cool because it would be flush to front panel, like this:

bugbrand · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 8:17 am Post subject:

That's a really interesting idea!
You could put a mini-magnet inside something like a grommet (y'know - those little rubber rings you pass cables through panels with)
I could imagine, perhaps though, that it may be hard to solder onto the rear-side of the magnet (and I think you'd want to do that, no?)

williamsharkey · Joined: Jul 31, 2005 Posts: 61 Location: usa

"I could imagine, perhaps though, that it may be hard to solder onto the rear-side of the magnet (and I think you'd want to do that, no?)"

Yeah, the texture on a neo magnet is very slick. And i wonder if solder responds to the magnetic field?

I'm gonna try to obtain some magnets and do experiments on them.

blue hell · Posted: Fri Feb 22, 2008 1:50 pm Post subject:

You could just use a small iron or silver disc that you solder the wire on. The disc will stick to the magnet, and when it's good enough for a cable connection it's probably good enough for the connection on the other side as well Very Happy

Beware though that not every magnetic material will conduct electricity, ferrites are insulators, well the ferrite rods used for AM radio antennas and the ferrite shells used for coils are. So best try a sample first.

I see no reason to worry about a bad influence of magnetism on solder, I'd think the forces would be way to low to cause mobility of possible magnetic materials (like silver) in the solder mix.